science, will hasten to occupy the land of their ancestors when peace will be made. This war for the liberation of the nations must end with the revival of the most ancient of all nations, whom brute force has scattered, but whom brute force has not been able to destroy.
You Jews, who for 2,000 years have wandered all
over the world, proving by your painful martyrdom the eternity of nations who do not want to die, and affirming even at the flame of the stake, and under the knife of your slayers, your unshaken belief in the triumph of Justice over Force, rejoice. Your Messiah is coming!
The Facts In The Hilfsverein-Technikum Affair.
On the 24th of March, the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden of Berlin purchased the Jewish Institute of Technology of Haifa, at an auction sale—arranged by itself—for the sum of 225,000 marks, that is, for about one-fourth of what had been invested in the erection of the institute.
This brings to a temporary close an affair which has created an unpleasant stir in America. The most varied Jewish interests had united to establish the Technikum by contributing to its establishment. The Technikum was originally intended to be one of the institutions of the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden. This was changed by the entrance of the American interests, which required that the Technikum be made independent of the control of the Hilfsverein. The Hilfsverein nevertheless continued to administer the affairs of the Technikum from its own offices, through its own secretary, with the intentions on the part of the leaders of the Hilfsverein to make the Technikum an integral part of their organization.
The Hilfsverein invested none of its own money in the Technikum buildings. The bankruptcy proceedings involved the following contributions: 300,000 M. from the Cohn- Oppenheim Foundation, which is affiliated with the Hilfsverein only on certain definite conditions, this sum constituting the entire capital of the Foundation; and 100,000 M., which were later secured as a loan for the Hilfsverein by its president, Herr James Simon, of Berlin. The remainder of the cost of the building was covered by 450,000 M. from the Wissotzki family and 420,000 M. from Jacob H. Schiff, as well as 21,000 M. from Julius Rosenwald and 81,000 from the National Fund, which sums were placed at the disposal of the institute with full confidence that it would be administered from a strictly impartial point of view. In this belief about forty scholarships, amounting to 1,000 M. a year, for ten years, were also obtained.
The first doubts concerning the impartiality of the leaders of the Hilfsverein came when the question of the language of instruction—whether Hebrew or German—was discussed. Though an agreement was reached on this point, the Amer- ican' directors withdrew shortly afterward because they could not feel sure that the affairs of the Technikum would be administered impartially if it were connected directly with the Hilfsverein. New funds needed for the completion of the buildings were to be raised in Germany, Russia and America in equal proportions. The American and Russian gentlemen had already declared themselves ready to contribute. Mr. Schiff made it a condition, however, that all differences should once and for all be adjusted. With a similar purpose in mind, Herr Wissotzki proposed that the offices of the Hilfsverein and of the Technikum be physically separated and that the Technikum have its own secretary, thus obviating friction in the future. The leaders of the Hilfs-
And so the matter developed. The bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by the leaders of the Hilfsverein, the value of the buildings (owing to the unstable condition in Palestine, caused by the war) could be appraised at a very low figure—about one-fifth of the cost—some of the foreign contributors were not within reach, at any rate, they were incapable of taking action, the public appeal of Americans to the German government had failed of effect. That is how the Hilfsverein succeeded, in times of war, in carrying out its old designs and acquired the Technikum for about one-fourth of what it had cost to build.
Important interests, common to all Jewry, have been usurped by a small group which commands but little public confidence in its ability to administer those interests. We deem further comment unnecessary.
MR. BRANDEIS PLEADS FOR
SMALL NATIONALITIES.
Louis D. Brandeis, president of the Provisional Executive Committee, delivered an address to about 1,400 people on Sunday, May 2d, in Earl Hall, Columbia University, under the auspices of the Collegiate Zionists. Mr. Brandeis made a plea for the recognition of the rights of small nationalities. Mr. Brandeis said in part:
“The reason we must make common cause with all the small nations of the world is that the large nations must surely come to the day when they will see that it is no good national policy to suppress any one people and drive out of those people their national instinct. We have had much of that in Russia. They tried to make people of every nationality conform to the national traits of Russia.
"Is England less glorious because all of the little nations that went to make up England were permitted to develop naturally and be units within the greater unit? Is England wronged because the Scotch are different from the Welsh and the Irish are different from the English?
"Disabilities are imposed upon the Jews in Russia, where they are denied the freedom to move about, the right to own land, the rights fundamental to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. To win these rights is the only solution possible for the Jewish problem, for any other solution involves suicide and death to Jewish aspirations.
"We must demand group liberty as well as individual liberty. We must work for a growth in all nations similar to the growth which enables German, French, and Italian colonies in Switzerland to develop and grow side by side."